Sam Casey

A graffiti vandal who sprayed his 'tag' on numerous buildings, bus shelters and phone boxes in Leeds has been forced to clean up the damage.

The 19-year-old left the initials 'KJN' at numerous locations in Garforth in a spate of incidents in the last month.

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Following enquiries the Leeds outer east neighbourhood policing team arrested the teenager, who admitted being responsible.

PC Andy Gaitley issued a conditional caution, which meant the vandal avoided court but had to join a Leeds City Council team to remove the graffiti.

PC Gaitley said: “The responsible party had a choice - to put his wrongs right by way of restorative justice or be summonsed to court, where he would have been given a hefty fine to compensate the victims and return their vandalised property back to its original state.

"Out of court disposals are a way of dealing with low level crime without burdening the courts, but they also give the victim a voice on how the offender is dealt with, which in this case has given them significant satisfaction.

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"Acts like this will not be tolerated by officers on the outer east policing team and anyone who has designs on committing offences should bear in mind the consequences of their offending and what they may be required to do in order to compensate for their actions."